Teens busted at Bennett High prom for booze

The party ended early for seven participants who were busted for alleged alcohol use and tossed out of James M. Bennett High School's annual prom.

Six Bennett students — five seniors and a junior — along with a university student who was an apparent guest, failed on-site breath tests and were told to leave the event, according to Wicomico County Board of Education spokeswoman Tracy Sahler. Parents of the teens were called to collect their child.

The school district's Code of Conduct, which prohibits alcohol use or possession by students, mandates a minimum five-day suspension, along with five hours of mandatory counseling and a 45-day suspension from extracurricular activities.

Sahler did not indicate whether disciplinary action had been imposed. It also was unclear whether the college student accused in the alcohol-drinking incident faced charges or other disciplinary measures. Wicomico County Sheriff's Office deputies are assigned to school functions and are likely with the law enforcement agency involved, Sahler also said.

No one was at the Sheriff's Office on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the incident.

The incident unfolded when administrators and law enforcement personnel "suspected alcohol use" by the students. The students were approached and given a breath test after authorities observed behavior and smelled an odor consistent with alcohol use, the spokeswoman said.

"A breath-testing device was used, and the device confirmed that alcoholic beverages had been consumed," Sahler said in a statement late Tuesday, May 3. "The seven people, including one college student and six James M. Bennett High students, were not allowed to remain at prom, and parents of the high school students were contacted to pick them up."

Sahler said she was uncertain of the 2016 prom location, but knew that the evening's theme involved the fictional novel and movie character Harry Potter.

Bennett's 2015 prom was at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center in Salisbury.